Washington, D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans, led by Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Environment, Manufacturing, & Critical Materials Subcommittee Chair Bill Johnson (R-OH), and Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC), today sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan pressing the EPA to reconsider proposed regulations to the fuels market that risk disrupting the market and increasing transportation costs for Americans.

WHY IT MATTERS: Americans are currently struggling to afford some of the highest energy prices in decades. President Biden’s rush-to-green policies have led to skyrocketing prices across the board—from electricity and oil to natural gas. These policies are hurting middle- and low-income families the most. Now, the EPA wants to continue prioritizing this radical agenda at the expense of Americans with this latest round of regulatory proposals that will ultimately reduce people's access to reliable, affordable transportation fuels.

Excerpts and highlights below:

EPA’S RUSH-TO-GREEN AGENDA: “We write regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed regulatory provisions creating Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) generated from renewable electricity (eRINs) that the Agency included in the proposed rule for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Program for 2023, 2024, and 2025.

“When the RFS was first created by Congress in 2005 and amended two years later in 2007, the program was designed to encourage the use of certain types of domestically produced blends of gasoline for vehicles. The RFS is intended to focus on liquid transportation fuels, and not to be used as a tool to electrify transportation. However, EPA’s proposed rule significantly changes how RINs would be addressed under the RFS program to allow for blended transportation fuel produced from renewable biomass to generate eRINs for electric vehicles (EVs).”

REDUCING FUEL AFFORDABILITY FOR AMERICANS: "EPA has missed the statutory deadline by nearly 14 years, but now it is moving forward with the rulemaking without studying the feasibility or market impacts of establishing an entirely new RIN program that would be contrary to both the RFS’ statutory language and the intent of Congress.

“Our goal is to ensure that all Americans have access to affordable, available, reliable, and secure energy. The final design of the eRINs program under the RFS inserts uncertainty into the transportation fuels market. It could create new economic opportunities for parties that service the electricity distribution sector and certain renewable fuels producers, or it could create regulatory barriers that would negatively impact American companies and complicate consumer’s ability to access the fuels they need for the lives they live.”

CLICK HERE to read the full letter.